Therapeutic boot construction

ABSTRACT

A therapeutic boot for treating the foot of a wearer with liquid medication. The boot includes a shoe weight sole piece, a liquid impervious upper portion, and an akle portion. A tubular passageway extends about the top of the upper portion, a drawstring extending therethrough being tightenable to thereby compress the adjacent upper portion against the ankle and partially seal the part of the boot therebelow about the foot of the wearer. A liquid inlet tube passes into the boot through the upper portion, and terminates at an outlet adjacent the sole piece. Removable liquid absorbent pads are secured to the interior of the boot at the sole piece and at the area overlying the toes of the wearer.

United States Patent 1 1 Basa 1451 July 31, 1973 THERAPEUTIC BOOT CONSTRUCTION [22] Filed: Aug. 23, 1971 [211 App]. No.: 173,957

[52] US. Cl 128/260, 54/82, 168/2,

, 168/27 [51] Int. Cl. A61p 5/40, A011 7/02 [58] Field 01 Search 128/260, 166, 8.1; 36/25; 54/82; 168/2, 26, 27

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,087,054 2/1914 Tipper 168/2 746,338 12/1903 Keen 54/82 3,406,683 10/1968 Steinberg... 128/166 235,447 12/1880 Milliman.... 54/82 348,003 8/1886 Fry 54/82 353,428 11/1886 Purson 168/2 2,565,751 8/1951 Birkle 128/260 3,478,738 1l/l969 Altman et al. 128/260 X OTHER PUBLICATIONS Medicated Equine Water Boot Co. Publication Re- I I l n o I o I 'l ceived in Patent Office 12-31-1899-1 page.

Primary Examiner-Aldrich F. Medbery Atzorney-1mirie & Smiley [57] ABSTRACT A therapeutic boot for treating the foot of a wearer with liquid medication. The boot includes a shoe weight sole piece, a liquid impervious upper portion, and an akle portion. A tubular passageway extends about the top of the upper portion, a drawstring extending therethrough being tightenable to thereby compress the adjacent upper portion against the ankle and partially seal the part of the boot therebelow about the foot of the wearer. A liquid inlet tube passes into the boot through the upper portion, and terminates at an outlet adjacent the sole piece. Removable liquid absorbent pads are secured to the interior of the boot at the sole piece and at the area overlying the toes of the wearer.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PAIENIE JUL 3 1 ma FIG. 3

FIG.2

INVENTOR NAROLEON A.BAsA

ATZORNEY BACKGROUND OF INVENTION This invention relates generally to therapeutic footwear, and more specifically relates to a boot for applying liquid medication to the foot of a wearer. In numerous and varied foot ailment conditions, it is desirable to apply liquid medication for sustained periods to the foot area requiring treatment. In the case of infections, for example, it is often medically useful to subject the afflicted foot area to sustained soaking in a mildly anticeptic solution. Similarly, callous conditions or the like, are well known to respond favorably to extended soaking in suitable treating solutions.

Unfortunately, the immobilization of the individual which results where foot soaking is carried out in conventional foot basins or the like, tends to discourage use of desirable foot treating techniques of the aforementioned type. In an effort to alleviate such immobilization during treatment, various boot-type constructions have from time to time been proposed. Such prior constructions have, however, been generally clumsy in nature, and while permitting a degree of movement in the wearer, have not been truly adapted to everyday wear, as for example for use during the normal work hours and work activities of the wearer. The prior constructions, moreover, have been extremely unesthetic in appearance, and in consequence, the resulting selfconsciousness of the wearer tended to discourage proper use of the boot.

In accordance with the present invention, a boot construction' is set forth which is both effective and truly adapted to use by the wearer in his everyday work environment and activities, and which moreover possesses a comparatively high degree of esthetic appeal.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION In accordance with the invention, the boot includes a shoe weight sole piece, a liquid impervious upper postion, and an ankle portion. A tubular passageway extends about the top of the upper portion, a drawstring extending therethrough being tightenable to thereby compress the adjacent boot portion against the ankle and partially seal the part of the boot therebelow about the foot of the wearer. A liquid inlet tube passes into the boot through the upper portion, and terminates adjacent the sole piece, thereby enabling medication to be passed into the lower portion of the boot. Replaceable, liquid absorbent pads are secured, as by snaps, to the interior of the boot at the sole piece and at the surface area of the interior which overlies the toes of a wearer. The ankle portion preferably includes a downwardly extending zipper for facilitating insertion and removal of the foot of a wearer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is diagrammatically illustrated, by way of example, in the drawings appended hereto, in which: FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-section through a boot construction in accordance with the present invention; FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the FIG. 1 boot, taken along the broken line 22 therein, parts of the boot appearing, however, in unsectioned depiction; and

FIG. 3 isa plan view of the boot of FIGS. 1 and 2.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. I a boot I appears, in a view which is generally a longitudinal crosssection, the view including, however, a portion of the boot in unsectioned depiction. The boot I is seen to include a sole piece 3, an upper portion 5 extending upwardly from sole piece 3 to a point approximately adjacent the ankle of a wearerS foot (seen in outline at 7), and an ankle portion 9 adjoining upper portion 5 and extending to the upper termination 11 of the boot.

Sole piece 3, unlike the case with many prior constructions, is a sturdy piece of normal shoe weight construction. The piece 3 is thus fashioned of rubber, leather, plastic leather-like compositions, or of similar materials as are known in the art to provide a tough, long-wearing and flexible covering for a shoe bottom. As in use a liquid will be present in abundance at the interior of the boot, sole piece 3 must be relatively impervious to liquid, and accordingly, plastic or rubberlike materials are particularly favored for such applicatron.

Upper portion 5 is similarly a liquid impervious material and once again plastic or rubber-like materials are favored for such application. Portion 5 may be constructed separately from sole piece 3 and then adjoined to the latter by known techniques such as via an adhesive agent or by stitching. Since, however, it is important to avoid leakage at the juncture of the two boot portions, a favorable construction may be achieved by molding or otherwise forming the portions 5 and piece 3 as a unit, a particularly simple process where synthetic plastic compositions or the like are used.

Upper portion 5 is seen at the top end thereof to carry a tubular passageway 11 which extends almost completely about the boot terminating in a pair of adjacent openings l3,1l5 at the front of the boot. A drawstring 17 is passed through such passageway II, with the ends thereof accessible for drawing and tying (as seen in FIG. 3). The function of tubular passageway ll 1 and the associated drawstring 17, is to provide a simple but efiective means for compressing the relatively flexi ble boot at such encircled portion against the contained ankle of the wearer, to thereby at least partially seal the liquid in the lower portion of the boot against upward movement and resultant leakage.

The ankle portion 9, which directly adjoins upper portion 5, may, if desired, be continuous with portion 5 and comprise a similar material. It is preferable, however, for ankle portion 9 to comprise a flexible liquid absorbent material, such as for example, a canvas or similar somewhat porous fabric. Such material may be adjoined to portion 5 by any convenient means including adhesion or so forth. The advantage of so utilizing an absorbent material is that any liquid escaping from the seal provided by tubular passageway 11 and associated drawstring 17, will tend to be absorbed in the ankle portion, thereby avoiding dripping. In order to facilitate insertion and removal of the foot of the wearer from boot ll, ankle portion 9 is provided with a zipper means 19 which extends downwardly from the upper end 21 of boot 1. Ankle portion 9 is also preferably provided with corrugated vertical ribbing 23 which acts to frictionally retain a garter piece 25, of fabric or the like, which may be attached external to boot 1 adjacent thewearers ankle. Such garter piece 25, typically comprising an absorbent material, provides an additional safeguard tending to retain any fluids leaking from the boot.

In order to evenly distribute the liquid treating agent added to the boot and provide an effective and comfortable medium for applying such agent to affected portions of the wearers foot, a pair of insert pads 27, 29 are provided in boot 1. Both such pads (which may also be seen in FIG. 2) comprise a sponge rubber or similar highly absorbent maerial, and are affixed in their respective positions in a removable fashion, as by snaps 31 which cooperate with engaging lugs at the shoe interior. The lower or sole pad 27 is seen to extend along the interior surface of the sole piece, and provides abundant liquid treating agent for application to the undersurface of the foot. The upper pad 29 extends over the portion of the wearers foot extending from the toes to approximately the instep. Such pad 29 is therefore particularly useful in applying the treating agent to the toes of a wearer, an approach favored, for example, in certain prescribed forms of treatment for athletes foot and similar fungus infections. The fact that both pads 27 and 29 are removable and replaceable, is a most important consideration in the present environment, as such feature enables use of fresh and sanitary surfaces to provide medication during successive uses of boot 1.

As seen in both the cutaway fragment at the right of FIG. 1, and in the irregular section of FIG. 2 (taken along the broken line 2-2 in FIG. 1), liquid medication may be admitted into boot 1 via a liuqid inlet tube 33. Such tube is seen to extend along one side of boot 1 from an external inlet point 35 just below tubular passage 11 to an outlet point 37 close to the sole piece 3 of the boot. The tube 33 may be provided with a frictionally engaged cover 38 at its external inlet point 35 which cover both prevents leakage from tube 33, and, as seen in FIG. 3, provides attractive concealment for the otherwise open inlet.

In order to provide tightening means for firmly securing boot 1 to the wearers foot 7, and to furthermore add an attractive esthetic feature causing boot 1 to more closely resemble conventional shoes, a pair of flaps 39, 41 are provided. Such flaps, as may be seen in FIGS. 1 through 3 are secured to upper portion at the lower edges thereof, and extend upwardly so that when brought inwardly and laced together by a string 43 extending through eyelets 45 in each flap, the boot 1 is tightened about the instep of the wearer. Such tightening, in addition to firmly securing boot 1 to the foot, serves the additional function of compressing upper pad 29 against the adjacent portions of the foot to thereby increase the effectiveness of the foot treatment provided by such pad.

While the present invention has been particularly set forth in terms of specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood in view of the instant disclosure, that numerous variations upon the invention are now enabled to those skilled in the art, which variations, in propriety, yet reside within the true province of the present teaching. Accordingly, the present invention is to be broadly construed, and limited only by the scope and spirit of the claims now appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A therapuetic boot, comprising in combination;

a liquid impervious shoe weight sole piece;

a liquid impervious upper portion extending upwardly from said sole piece in liquid tight structural association therewith and of a height to reach the ankle of a wearer and having a back portion to encompass the rear portion of the foot of a wearer and a front portion to encompass the toe and instep portions of the foot of a wearer;

an ankle encompassing portion of flexible liquid absorbent material adjoined to said upper portion and extending upwardly therefrom as a structural and aesthetical continuation thereof and covering the ankle of a wearer; liquid sealing strip of tubular formation provided internally on the upper portion below the ankle encompassing portion and extending in an encircling formation about the upper portion and having open ends disposed in spaced apart arrangement with the sealing strip approximately encircling said boot;

drawstring means operatively positioned in said sealing strip and having connective ends extending through and beyond said open ends of the sealing strip so as to be drawn and connected together whereby the sealing strip is sealingly tightened about the ankle of a wearer to guard against overflow of liquid from the upper portion of the boot;

a liquid input tube means carried by said upper portion of the interior thereof and passing into said boot through said upper portion, said tube having a covered liquid inlet disposed externally of the upper portion at one side thereof at a point below said tubular sealing strip and an outlet adjacent said sole piece, and an absorbent material means in said boot, engaging the upper and lower portion of the end of the foot of the wearer.

2. A device according to claim 1, further including said ankle encompassing portion having a vertical opening to expand such portion for facilitating insertion and removal of a foot from said boot and closure means for said opening.

3. A device in accordance with claim 2, wherein said absorbent material means includes a replaceable liquid absorbent pad secured to the interior of said boot at said sole piece.

4. A device according to claim 3, wherein said absorbent material includes a replaceable liquid absorbent pad secured to the interior of said upper portion at a point enabling said pad to overlie the toes and upper surface of the metatarsus of the foot of said wearer.

5. A device according to claim 4, further including a pair of laceable flaps secured to said upper portion and extending across the instep portion of said boot for tightening the boot upon the foot of a wearer.

6. A device according to claim 5, wherein said ankle portion includes vertical ridges formed therein for engaging a garter piece applied thereabout.

7. A device according to claim 1 wherein said sole piece and upper portion are molded in a one-piece construction.

# t k t t 

1. A therapuetic boot, comprising in combination; a liquid impervious shoe weight sole piece; a liquid impervious upper portion extending upwardly from said sole piece in liquid tight structural association therewith and of a height to reach the ankle of a wearer and having a back portion to encompass the rear portion of the foot of a wearer and a front portion to encompass the toe and instep portions of the foot of a wearer; an ankle encompassing portion of flexible liquid absorbent material adjoined to said upper portion and extending upwardly therefrom as a structural and aesthetical continuation thereof and covering the ankle Of a wearer; a liquid sealing strip of tubular formation provided internally on the upper portion below the ankle encompassing portion and extending in an encircling formation about the upper portion and having open ends disposed in spaced apart arrangement with the sealing strip approximately encircling said boot; drawstring means operatively positioned in said sealing strip and having connective ends extending through and beyond said open ends of the sealing strip so as to be drawn and connected together whereby the sealing strip is sealingly tightened about the ankle of a wearer to guard against overflow of liquid from the upper portion of the boot; a liquid input tube means carried by said upper portion of the interior thereof and passing into said boot through said upper portion, said tube having a covered liquid inlet disposed externally of the upper portion at one side thereof at a point below said tubular sealing strip and an outlet adjacent said sole piece, and an absorbent material means in said boot, engaging the upper and lower portion of the end of the foot of the wearer.
 2. A device according to claim 1, further including said ankle encompassing portion having a vertical opening to expand such portion for facilitating insertion and removal of a foot from said boot and closure means for said opening.
 3. A device in accordance with claim 2, wherein said absorbent material means includes a replaceable liquid absorbent pad secured to the interior of said boot at said sole piece.
 4. A device according to claim 3, wherein said absorbent material includes a replaceable liquid absorbent pad secured to the interior of said upper portion at a point enabling said pad to overlie the toes and upper surface of the metatarsus of the foot of said wearer.
 5. A device according to claim 4, further including a pair of laceable flaps secured to said upper portion and extending across the instep portion of said boot for tightening the boot upon the foot of a wearer.
 6. A device according to claim 5, wherein said ankle portion includes vertical ridges formed therein for engaging a garter piece applied thereabout.
 7. A device according to claim 1 wherein said sole piece and upper portion are molded in a one-piece construction. 